+3 Interview: What Would Cathy Do?

“What really pleases me about the play is that audience come to completely different conclusions about Cathy that are both valid.”

WHO: Chris Aronsten, Writer and Director

WHAT:“Cathy’s just been thrown out of the supermarket for stealing, but she’s not a junkie, and she’ll kill any c*nt who says she is. Because she’s an actress, OK? Rehearsing for a film role. Living the life of her character. Taking notes, making observations – and when the cameras start rolling, she’s going to give the performance of a lifetime. Just as long as she’s still around.”

Yes, this is my first time at the Fringe as a participant or an audience member. We‘re touring the show quite bit this year, including two shows back at home in Sydney and two solo theatre festivals in the US. But the Edinburgh Fringe is definitely the highlight for us, with 26 performances scheduled.

Tell us about your show.

I created by theatre company 40 Watt Pearl as a way of producing my own work, because I got tired of waiting for “permission” from others to get certain plays up. I’m not really a career director, but I do enjoy directing my own work, and in the case of “What would Cathy do?”, I’m also the producer and composer… A combination of love and necessity! Next stop for the play is the United Solo festival on Broadway in November.

What would Cathy do? tells the story of Cathy, who bursts onto the stage in the first scene looking for all intents and purposes like a junkie in decline. But Cathy says she’s not a junkie at all, she’s an actor, deeply immersed in a character she is creating for an up-coming feature film. At first, this explanation has the ring of truth about it. But the more desperate she becomes to convince us, the more unsure we become about where the real truth lies. Is she a method actor irretrievably lost inside the character she says she will portray, or a real life drug addict at the end of a tragic decline? What really pleases me about the play is that audience come to completely different conclusions about Cathy that are both valid.

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

I’m still exploring the festival myself, but I’m travelling with a very talented bunch of Aussies, who are also performing monologues. I can highly recommend Misterman, a brilliant 80 minute monologue by Enda Walsh, Good With Maps, by Australian writer Noelle Janaczewska, and my friend Tom Campbell’s hilarious stand up show One Hander (Tom only had one hand….)

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